For most companies, COVID-19 meant a downturn in business and profit. One of the few exceptions was the smaller meat processors around the country. As it turned out, we didn’t have nearly enough of them.
Jessica Roosa, owner of This Old Farm, a meat processing and packaging facility in Clinton County, says they remember the day grocery stores no longer had meat on their shelves.
“Because the phone started ringing and it rang every 30 seconds. We certainly weren’t staffed to take care of it at that point in time. But we grew. We answered.”
This Old Farm did grow through the pandemic and kept up with demand as best they could. Demand for quarter or half beefs and hogs went through the roof, and Roosa, a small farmer herself, was excited for her farmer customers and the trend toward local food.
“We were excited to see people start to pay attention to where their food was coming from. And we expected that not everybody would maintain that, and we’ve seen that today. About 30% of those stayed interested in local ag and others went back to the previous route of gaining food.”
Roosa says the convenience of buying at the grocery store is the likely culprit for consumers reverting back to their previous buying habits, but they continue to grow and adapt.
“We’re standing in the middle of nowhere out here in Colfax, and so we responded to that need for convenience by opening two butcher shops, two ‘Old World’ style butcher shops, that are in places that people are. We understand that people go to the grocery store because it’s convenient, and we needed to become more convenient for them.”
This Old Butcher Shoppe is located on the south side of Lafayette and Saint Adrian Meats & Sausage is in Lebanon.
Grants from USDA and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture have helped This Old Farm’s growth. They’re under construction now to add to their facilities for more capacity.
Learn more about This Old Farm and their mission to support the local food system at thisoldfarm.com.
